Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Cheap Ethics CLE: "Public Trust, Private Interests"

I will be a panelist on a discussion of open, honest and accountable government. For lawyers, it's a good chance to get end of the year CLE, and I believe it will count toward the ethics requirement.

The luncheon is sponsored by Common Cause. Common Cause is one of those groups, like the ACLU, that I strongly agree with half the time and strongly disagree with the other half of the time. The ACLU seems to pick and choose which constitutional rights it wants to protect and which interpretations it will support. It is that inconsistency why the ACLU is disliked by many people, including by Libertarians who are much more consistent with respect to the Constitution. I applaud Common Cause for fighting for honest and open government...and pointing out the abuses in our own legislature. I think though the emphasis on public financing of elections is misplaced and the fight against the voter ID requirement was very misguided. This last election, where the county voter rolls many of which exceeded 100%, proved beyond a doubt that requiring a voter to show an ID is a good thing.

Anyway, Julia Vaughn of Common Cause went looking for a Republican for the panel and settled on me after not being able to get an elected official to participate. Below is a blurb on the program from the Common Cause website. There is also a link to the brochure:
Public Trust, Private Interests

Please join us for a luncheon seminar for legislators, lobbyists, attorneys and citizens on Friday, December 5 from 11am to 1pm at the IU School of Law-Indianapolis.Our keynote speaker will be Common Cause President Bob Edgar, who will discuss the importance of open, honest and accountable government. Other panelists include Dr. David Orentlicher, professor of legal ethics at IUPUI and a former legislator; former Indiana Secretary of State Joe Hogsett, and Indianapolis attorney Paul Ogden, who has been an outspoken advocate of the public interest in Indianapolis. The discussion will be moderated by Indianapolis radio host Abdul Hakim-Shabazz.

Read the Brochure
Reserve your place today!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you send a flyer to the Barnes & Thornburg firm?

Anonymous said...

We know better but just don't care. Like journalism, law is an honorable profession that's been corrupted & increasingly defined by systemic malpractice vs. its principled application; which has done more to disable liberty & divide America than any foreign enemy. Class warfare (professional & political) is being waged by misguided, narcissistic & often sociopathically inclined, elites, who suffer from an inferiority complex they masquerade as superiority; for which, someone ELSE is "going to pay." On television & radio dials, the "rest of us" can listen or snap these folks off. But, when they jam half truths & excessive restrictions down our throats, it's time we snap back! While it's reported that citizens of Rome partied while their city burned, let's pray that we find ourselves running for the ladder trucks in other than a partying mood.

Paul K. Ogden said...

Anon,

No, I haven't. We should probably have provided the firm a chance to supply a speaker in favor of conflicts of interest by our elected and appointed officials.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps you could use the B&T lawfirm as an example of what NOT to do.